World Famous Comics: Plague of the Dead (The Morningstar Strain)
Plague of the Dead (The Morningstar Strain)
By: Z. A. Recht Publisher: Permuted Press Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Permuted Press Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 308 Publication Date: December 01, 2006
Product Description: The end begins with a viral outbreak unlike anything mankind has ever encountered before. The infected are subject to delirium, fever, a dramatic increase in violent behavior, and a one-hundred percent mortality rate.
Death.
But it doesn't end there. The victims return from death to walk the earth.
When a massive military operation fails to contain the plague of the living dead it escalates into a global pandemic. In one fell swoop, the necessities of life become much more basic. Gone are petty everyday concerns. Gone are the amenities of civilized life.
Yet a single law of nature remains: Live, or die. Kill, or be killed.
On one side of the world, a battle-hardened General surveys the remnants of his command: a young medic, a veteran photographer, a brash Private, and dozens of refugees, all are his responsibility-all thousands of miles from home. Back in the United States, an Army Colonel discovers the darker side of Morningstar virus and begins to collaborate with a well-known journalist to leak the information to the public...
Great book! I found this book very entertaining, some reviewers are complaining about "Stereotypical military/government personnel" well, guess what... ALL military/government personnel are trained the same way! so of course they are going to be "stereotypical". There are some slow spots in the book such as what goes on with Demilios' group, but try to find a book that doesn't have slow spots. The only problem I had with the book was with General Sherman... he seems a little slow to think at times and leans towards being absent-minded once or twice which can be annoying because generals don't get their stars by being either one of those things but i justify it to myself by remembering that fact that he is pushing 60 (at least) and older gents tend to have those problems. I wish i could give this book 4 and a half stars, the only parts i really could not justify to myself was where rebecca the nurse acts i think out of character by shooting someone (won't spoil it for you) and 1 or 2 other such situations i can't remember off the top of my head. So to anyone who's a fan of the "shambler" or "sprinter" or both, i highly recommend this book.
P.S. definition for stereotype: a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group.
Laugh Out Loud Awful Don't waste your money. I read the outstanding World War Z and middling Day to Day Armagedon and wanted another good apocalyptic read. Given the solid reviews for Plague of the Dead on Amazon, I purchased the book -- what a mistake! Poorly written, jampacked with jargon, short on suspense, loaded with unintentional absurdities, filled with cliches, and completely predictable. Bits and pieces of action are followed by long passages of meandering/meaningless "character development"; despite the author's extended efforts, one doesn't give a hoot about his character stereotypes. Indeed, the only reason I finished the book was the hope they would all die. Like other titles published by Permuted Press, the book is set-up for a sequel. I can't believe anyone would buy a follow-up to this piece of trash. And after several other disappointments, I'm becoming very hesitant to believe good user reviews on Amazon.
Easy Read The book is decent and start to finish, but there is a sense of detachment from the characters. It is a zombie book taken from a more military/political point of view so if you are looking for a zombie thriller about some survivors, this isn't the best one to go by. I did like the fact that this one uses different types of zombies which added to the excitement (crawling zombies can get boring). All in all, I was happy with it.
First Impressions... Like the title says, this is a first impression. I'm just under 100 pages in and there are a couple things that bug me. But first, I have to say I love how he handles Zombies in general. The dual stages of infection are a brilliant twist, and all the gory details he gives are just plain fun to read. The few things that trouble me may just be personal opinion or me being too picky. There are two issues: The first, and more distracting to me, is the development of Recht's characters. Maybe they mature wonderfully and really grow into themselves later in the book, but by this point they all seem a little soap-opera inspired. The second bit troubling me, I'm sure, is just a result of me being too picky. Early in the novel the Army destroys a bridge to aid in cutting off the spread of Morningstar. The imagery in this scene made it seem as though the Army used a nuke to take down a bridge. There was talk of a bright explosion and bits of metal flying everywhere...that's just not how demolitions are performed. There are a few similar blunders along these lines, but that was the best example I could think of. All in all, I'm enjoying the book. These aren't issues that will make me stop reading. I like the story, and I especially like his twists, as I mentioned. It's a great read so far and I'd recommend it to anyone who's enjoyed World War Z or Day by Day Armageddon or anything along those lines.
Next time I'll pay more attention to the bad reviews What a yawner. The military personnel was stereotypic. The government agents were stereotypic. All the various and sundry players were out a bad scifi channel made for TV movie; all one dimensional and predictable. There was no one I really cared about. I can't believe that people thought this was a good zombie book. The writing was juvenile at best. I've read better plots in comic books. I should have paid more attention to the bad reviews they were much more accurate. And the bad thing is I bought the second book too.
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